Preparing for your Christmas market: a guide for crafters

A Christmas market can account for a significant share of a maker's annual turnover. It is also one of the few occasions when your customers get to see, touch and smell your creations before buying them. To help you build your range, discover our collection for making your own poured and moulded scented candles.

But between choosing the market, working out how much to produce, setting your prices, designing your stall and planning the logistics, a selling weekend takes several months to prepare. The difference between a successful market and a disappointing one is rarely decided on the day itself: it is decided long before.

Here is what you need to know, step by step.

When should you start preparing for your Christmas market?

This is the first mistake many stallholders make: leaving it until October. At the most sought-after markets, applications close as early as the summer.

The rule to follow: identify your markets 5 to 6 months ahead, and assume that active preparation begins 3 months before.

6 to 4 months before: scouting, contacting organisers, applications and registration.
3 months before: product selection, prices, quantities, start of production.
2 months before: ordering everything that has to be printed or personalised: packaging, labels, business cards.
1 month before: finalising the stall and the payment equipment.
2 to 3 weeks before: launching your communications.

Our complete guide sets out this reverse schedule as a tick-box checklist, right through to the big day.

Choosing the right market

The "best" market is not necessarily the biggest or the busiest. A well-attended market is still a poor choice if its audience does not match your products, or if the pitch costs more than you can reasonably sell in two days.

So start by clarifying what you are going there for: to sell, to become known or to test a new range. Those three objectives do not call for the same markets. For a first outing, a smaller local event is often a better place to learn the ropes than a large tourist market where the pitch is expensive and the competition fierce.

Before you commit, obtain the following from the organiser, the town hall or the tourist office:

the dates, opening hours and set-up days;
the fee and the exact dimensions of the pitch;
what equipment is provided and what is not (chalet, table, lighting, electricity);
attendance figures for previous editions;
the site rules: lit candles, speakers, diffusers, take-down times.

This last point is often overlooked and can ruin a display prepared over several weeks: many organisers ban naked flames or limit sound.

Think too about the documents you will have to provide: proof of business registration, professional liability insurance certificate, photos of your creations. If your business is not yet registered, that is the step to sort out first.

What to sell, in what quantity and at what price?

The aim is not to bring your entire catalogue, but to offer a selection of creations chosen for the occasion. An overloaded stall is hard to read; a tighter selection often sells better.

A balanced assortment generally combines four families:

Your bestsellers, which give you a predictable base of turnover.
Your Christmas creations: shapes, colours and fragrances designed for the season. This is what justifies your presence at this market.
Small gifts, affordable and easy to give, which trigger impulse buying.
One-off or premium pieces, which give the stall character and lift the average basket.

Plan for at least three price levels. At Christmas, visitors do not all have the same budget, and a single-range stall automatically forfeits part of its sales.

How much stock should you take?

There is no universal formula, but two solid benchmarks: ask the organiser for attendance figures from previous editions, and remember that running out at the end of a market costs less than unsold seasonal stock that is hard to shift in January. Always keep a back-up supply under the table, though: a stall that empties out loses its pulling power.

Checking that the market is profitable

Your market prices are not your online prices reduced "because there is no postage". Add up every cost of the event: pitch, transport, accommodation, equipment, packaging, raw materials, then divide by your margin rate: that gives you the minimum turnover you need to cover your costs.

And do not forget to include your own working time. It is the item most often left out, and the one that makes a market profitable on paper but not in reality.

In the complete book: you will find a ready-to-fill forecast budget table that works out your break-even point, and a sales tracking table to use during the market.

Preparing a stall that makes people stop

You have a few seconds to make a visitor slow down. Your stall is the first image of your world, before you have said a word.

Three principles are enough to turn a table into a professional display:

Do not lay everything flat. Play with heights and volumes, upturned crates, small shelves, display stands, to create depth and guide the eye.
Set a hierarchy. Put your flagship products and your Christmas creations to the fore; the rest supports them without competing.
Let it breathe. An overcrowded stall feels cluttered. Group your products by range, by fragrance or by price.

Add clear signage: your brand name visible from a distance and legible prices on every product. A visitor who has to ask the price of each piece often leaves without buying.

As for decoration, stay consistent with your visual identity: the aim is not to turn your stall into a Christmas set, but to create a setting that supports your products without stealing the show. For a first market, take care not to devote a disproportionate share of your budget to it. Before every purchase, one question: can this be reused at other markets?

Finally, do not neglect the senses. A discreet playlist reinforces the atmosphere without drowning out conversation, and smell makes the difference if you sell candles or scented creations: letting visitors smell a fragrance helps them picture it at home and makes the decision to buy considerably easier. One rule, though: do not multiply the fragrances. Too many scents in one space quickly become indistinct.

Forgetting nothing on the day

This is what causes the most stress the evening before. The method: list everything, well in advance, and tick as you go. Six categories to cover:

Packaging and selling: bags, tissue paper, ribbons, price tags, business cards.
Furniture and merchandising: table, tablecloth, display stands, risers, lighting.
Atmosphere: decoration, battery-powered fairy lights, a way to let people discover your fragrances.
Taking payment: charged terminal, change, power bank, something to record sales on.
Emergency kit: tape, scissors, double-sided tape, string, clips. This is what saves a display that will not hold.
You: warm clothing, suitable shoes, a flask, snacks. A Christmas market is physically demanding, and a warm welcome is hard to keep up when you are exhausted and frozen.

In the book: you will find the complete checklist for these six categories, close to 45 items to tick off, ready to print.

Communicating before, during and after

A market does not start on opening day. The idea is not to be everywhere, but to choose the right channels and use them at the right moment.

Before the Christmas market

Announce your participation two to three weeks ahead, giving the location, the dates and the opening hours, then show the preparations as the day approaches. Posters and flyers left in local shops reach people who do not follow you online yet.

During the Christmas market

Keep posting: set-up, atmosphere, encounters. You bring the event to life for those who cannot come. On the stall, a clearly visible QR code lets people move straight from the physical to the digital.

After the Christmas market

This is the most neglected stage and probably the one that pays off most. A visitor met at a market can become a regular customer, provided you keep in touch. If you have collected newsletter sign-ups, write in the days that follow, while the memory of the stall is still fresh.

Welcoming, talking, selling

At a Christmas market you are not only selling a product: you are telling the story of your world and your craft.

There is no need to learn a script by heart, and it is actually counterproductive. Prepare instead a few sentences and questions that let you open the conversation naturally. The principle that works best: take an interest in the visitor before talking about your products. A simple "Are you local or just passing through?" is often enough to start an exchange that will lead you to present your creations. Stay available and smiling without pressing constantly: say hello, then let people browse.

One last, essential point: make paying easy. Many visitors no longer carry cash, and taking cash only costs you sales. Plan for a card terminal and a fallback in case of a technical or network problem, check that it is charged before you leave, and display the accepted payment methods clearly on the stall.

In the week that follows, finally take an hour to note down while it is fresh what sold, what made people hesitate, what was missing, and what you actually earned once every cost was deducted. Those notes are worth their weight in gold for the next market.

And if you are still wondering whether the candle market is accessible and offers real opportunities, read our article on how the candle market is evolving.

Getting your complete e-book

Our e-book covers every detail of preparing your Christmas market, including a forecast budget table, a sales tracking table and a Christmas market playlist.

To download it, simply click the pop-up that appears on screen. If it no longer appears, clear your cookies, then refresh the page: it will come back.